So I was going through the All Things Digital site, watching videos, when low-and-behold I get the 'Flash plug-in has crashed' error.
Gaaaah! It comes in miniature?
(You should also check out Big Dog in the related videos links on YouTube...)
I haven't gotten my mitts on one of these phones to play with yet like some, but I can already tell a bit about all versions of the hardware just from the promotional pictures used in Microsoft's marketing.
I see a phone with a crappy, barely audible ringer. Or a shoddy network. Or both. Unanswered text messages, missed calls and stacked up mail messages. Joking aside, this is an admittedly slight, but still interesting, problem. I know that you want to show off interface features, but showing a display of missed calls? On a promo shot for a phone? Show some waiting messages or something and call it a day! Don't let consumers doubt the capabilities of your phone if only on a subliminal level! Even 20 years ago we knew that you couldn't sell a television set if you showed photos of it displaying static in your ads! You never saw a computer monitor ad with a blank screen, either, for that matter!March 22, 2010
iTunes DJ and the Apple Remote app
The DJ built into iTunes lives at the top of Playlists in the left-hand column of the iTunes window. By default, it selects 15 tracks from your music library to start things off. Behind the scenes, it keeps track of the last five songs in rotation, and adds a new track to the end of the list each time a song has been played. At the bottom left of your track list, there's a menu that lets you choose any of your playlists as the source for new tracks. At the bottom right of your track list, the Settings button lets you adjust how many recently played and upcoming songs are displayed and whether you'd like higher-rated songs to be played more often.
The rest of the Settings panel underlines what a flexible and accommodating soul the iTunes DJ is. Not only can you drag tracks around and drag in new ones as the spirit moves, but any of your iPhone/iPod touch-carrying guests who have the Apple Remote app installed can also add new songs to the list. You decide whether they can request songs from your whole library or a particular playlist, and they also get a chance to influence what plays next by tapping the voting heart to the right of each track.
Never really thought about what it would be like at a party where several people had iPhone's sporting the Remote app.
I don't think this kind of thing would have even been practical a few years ago on some other type of smart phone, but with the saturation of the iPhone this is a very likely situation these days.
No more arguing over what's playing on the jukebox, vote on it (unless you forgot your phone...)
Display and user interface - voting opens March 15
How much does size actually matter? If you want a big screen, do you also want a QWERTY keyboard? Compromises need to be made here, so choose wisely. At every point of the design process, all sorts of considerations need to be made. If you add a sliding form factor (to fit that QWERTY keyboard and a big screen) then you're going to have a big impact on the depth of the device.
Size and shape - voting opens March 22
This will be heavily influenced by the decisions you made with the display and user interface, particularly the depth of the device. Added to that you have the choice of clamshell, tilt 'n' slide or monoblock, each of which will have a huge influence on depth.
Materials - voting opens March 29
What about a device toting Kevlar? We're not there yet, but who knows what will kind of materials our devices will use in the future. As manufacturing techniques improve, so do the opportunities to create seamless designs. Nokia designers work as hard at understanding manufacturing as they do creating new devices. Keep this in mind when making your decisions.
Operating system - voting opens April 5
This is a straight run thing - should this device of the future have Symbian or MeeGo? The choice is yours.
Connectivity - voting opens April 12
We don't like wires, do you? Of course wireless electricity hasn't hit us yet, and wireless HD video transfer is still a way off for mobile devices. What do you see as being most important when it comes to connectivity?
Camera - voting opens April 19
The camera has become a staple part of Nokia mobile devices as the phone itself. But where next? More megapixels? Faster speed? Better zoom? Hi-def video recording? You decide.
Enhancements - voting opens April 26
It's bolt-on time. Adding curious features and functions to the device to make it more interesting, useful and in some cases, more entertaining. We've got a couple of gems lined up for you here. What would you have?
What was it Henry Ford said?
"If I asked my customers what it was they wanted they would have told me they wanted a faster horse?"
Or something like that?
I described the iPhone with their sliders, with a slightly larger aspect ratio.
Nokia says this is the Perfect mix.
And they've resorted to suing Apple for patent infringements.
Yeah.
